


Cycles of Life

by betweentheskies



Series: 100 Word Challenge [4]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: 100 word challenge, Bets & Wagers, Competition, Gen, Morgan is confused, The Cycle, except doc wont cheat this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 19:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20031496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweentheskies/pseuds/betweentheskies
Summary: At first, the night appeared to be like any other night. The lights in the hall were dimmed, with further illumination coming from within the labs. The main phone lines barely rang, considering it was nearing seven in the evening, but the emergency call center was still abuzz with activity.But then, as Morgan Brody passed the case review board on her way to the break room, she had to double back and take another look.[Word of the Day: Credit]





	Cycles of Life

**Author's Note:**

> I have a very strong feeling that everyone is still bitter about Doc winning the last cycle and that's the tea on that.

At first, the night appeared to be like any other night. The lights in the hall were dimmed, with further illumination coming from within the labs. The main phone lines barely rang, considering it was nearing seven in the evening, but the emergency call center was still abuzz with activity. 

But then, as Morgan Brody passed the case review board on her way to the break room, she had to double back and take another look. She turned a bit to make sure she wasn’t blocking the hall before reading the details of the cases assigned for this evening’s shift. Nick had opened and closed a suicide within 30 minutes of starting his shift. Fin and Sara just figured out that their case was a murder. D.B. had stepped out of the office for once just to clear the scene of a heart attack victim not even an hour ago.

“Huh,” the young woman said out loud, mainly to herself, though it caught the attention of Greg, who was passing by at that moment.

“What’s up?” He asked, hand stuffed in his pockets, not wanting to seem too desperate for anything interesting to happen that night.

“Well, there’s a kinda funny pattern. In one shift, we have a suicide, homicide, and natural death,” she said, taking a look up at Greg who suddenly seemed way too excited.

“Morgan, do you know what this means?” He enthusiastically asked, grabbing her shoulders and making Morgan wonder if she was about to be shaken.

“No?” She cautiously spoke, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

“We have a cycle!” Greg shouted, freeing her shoulders so he could throw two fists into the air. After those four little words were spoken, heads soon began to pop out of lab doorways. Clearly this meant something very interesting was about to happen.

“Are you sure?” Hodges asked, abruptly appearing next to the duo. He answered his own question, though, by looking over the board. With a nod of his head, he turned oddly serious.

“Alright then, where’s Henry? He can be banker again. Hey, Henry!” Hodges was already running the play, setting off to find where Henry had hid himself, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Morgan.

“Please, for the love of God, will you explain to me what a cycle is?” She asked, arms crossed over her chest as she looked up at Greg who was intently studying the board.

“I won’t say too much in fear of jinxing anything but,” he turned to look at her as he spoke, “once in a blue moon, during one shift, we clear at least one case for each type of cause of death. We always bet on who will be the one to find the last type.” 

“That’s…” Morgan had to actually pause to process. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it?!’” Greg said with a slightly hurt tone. “This rarely happens! It’s been nearly a year since the last cycle!”

His words caught the ear of a passing Nick Stokes, who had just finished talking to D.B. because he had been given a scene. “No way, there’s another cycle?” He asked, turning the pair into a trio as he, like seemingly everyone now, stopped to look over the case board.

“Alright, a cycle!” He said, just as excited as everyone else, before turning and seeing that Hodges had tracked down Henry and a few other lab techs had followed suit.

“Same rules as always. Henry’s banker, money plays and this year we’re adding the Doc Rule,” Hodges said as he pulled out his wallet, a bite in his words as he spoke of the new rule.

Morgan, obviously still wanting to play and win the game, pulled her own wallet out of her pocket as she asked, “What’s the Doc Rule?”

“Last year when the cycle hit, Doc won the pot because he said that Dave would be the one to determine the natural case,” Nick explained as he handed over his twenty dollars, adding on to Henry that he was obviously betting on himself.

“Well, yeah, that makes sense,” Morgan mused as she handed over her twenty, still momentarily undetermined if she really wanted to bet on herself. Not that she had doubts about her abilities or anything, she just wanted to play her cards right.

“The point of the game,” Hodges started, sounding as if this was a very long held tradition that must be followed with respect, “is about the _scene investigator_ who is running the case.” He shook his head a bit at the end.

“Of course Doc or David is going to be the one to determine the last case, or any case for that matter. That’s their job,” he continued further as if Morgan didn’t know what medical examiners did. 

“What I think Hodges is trying to say,” Greg piped up as he handed Henry his money, “is that this game is about giving credit to where it’s due and that’s to the CSI leading the case.” 

“I suppose that makes sense. Give credit where it’s due and all,” Morgan repeated out loud with a slight nod of her head. Now that she actually understood the slight absurdity of what the night shift did for fun, she was much more interested in playing. And winning. For the hell of it, she'd bet on herself.

“Well, I didn’t realize we were having a little party in the hall here,” a new voice said, and the heads turned to see that D.B. had been standing off to the side, hopefully not for long. Considering how one shoulder was leaned against a doorway, he may have been amusing himself with the competition talk for more than a few seconds.

“D.B., just the man I wanted to see!” Greg said with his usual charismatic smile as he brushed past Nick. “Any new scenes you wanna give out? Maybe a car accident or stairwell fall?” He pressed with a slight raise of an eyebrow.

“Sorry man, I’ve got the car crash,” Nick said with a laugh before making his way through the small crowd, presumably to get his gear so that he could get to the scene and wrap the whole game up before it even had a chance to start.

“Well, look at that, I have two scenes here and two CSI’s who are apparently trying to fulfill some cycle game,” D.B. spoke with fake surprise as he held up the two yellow sheets, backs facing outward.

Greg’s eyes bounced between the two before he plucked one and immediately turned it over. His face gave away no sign of joy or worry; Vegas clearly taught him how to have a good poker face. He then followed in Nick’s footsteps to grab his own gear, though he did pause to pat Morgan on the shoulder and wish her luck.

“That just leaves this one scene,” D.B. said as Morgan stepped up and, as she took the paper, he added, “What are the odds that asphyxiation from breath play isn’t an accident?” 

Morgan smiled as she took a glance down at her sheet to the address of a seedy motel where such kinds of sex acts usually took place. 

“I gotta give ‘em credit where it’s due,” she said, looking up to D.B. with a smile, “this is one way to spice up a dull evening.” With that, she tucked the paper into her pocket before heading off to get her own kit and head out to the scene on her own, for once wishing that there wasn’t a murder in Vegas.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading!!


End file.
